Detecting the coral bleaching at the coral reefs of Son Tra peninsula and Cu Lao Cham Island in the South central coast region of Vietnam

Abstract

Coral bleaching events are of concern globally because of their adverse effect on the coral reef ecosystem. However, there is a lack of observed bleaching in many coral reefs in Vietnam, leading to difficulty in implementing the suitable management and protection solutions. The study aims to provide general information about coral bleaching in ST and CLC basing on bleaching alerts of NOAA Coral Reef Watch in 2019. Field data was collected by a photographic method for analyzing and classifying bleached coral. The results showed that coral reefs experienced low bleaching by an average of 8.86% and 9.09% in ST and CLC, respectively. In addition, the study broadly identified the relationship of sea surface temperature and Degree Heating Weeks to coral bleaching in the study area.